Designing sustainable sanitation: Involving design in innovative, transdisciplinary research

This paper introduces an innovative pilot project where an alternative system of sanitation to capture, treat and reuse urine in agricultural trials is being undertaken in a university setting. The paper outlines the emerging theory and practise of Transition Management (TM) and identifies a lack of attention to the end-user in transition experiments to date. This project situates design as a core component in the social process of transitioning to a novel system of sanitation. Students across two design schools developed visual prototypes to introduce the project to the target audiences, which were tested during a pre-pilot installation. Initial results support the guiding hypothesis that design has a critical role to play in facilitating social learning in system innovation.

► We identify a lack of attention to the end-user in sanitation transition experiments to date.
► Social learning plays an important role in system innovation, where end-user engagement is a critical factor.
► Involving design in transdisciplinary research helps to support the social learning of multiple stakeholders.
► Design can facilitate social learning in transition experiments where end-user engagement is a critical factor.